Understanding Bonds
by Luna Calamity
Summary: While the Easter Bunny is celebrating his holiday with a group of children, he senses a friend nearby; one who had gone missing 20 years ago. When he meets the young Guardian, he sees that not only has his physical appearance been corrupted, but also his mind. This is obviously the Bogeyman's doing...right?


Disclaimer: I do not own Rise of the Guardians or anything about it. (Frankly, that ending still isn't good to me anyway lol explain later)

* * *

"Alright little ankle-biters, did you all have fun?"

All the children turned to the large bunny, smiling so wide their cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.

"Yeah! They're all so pretty!" one little girl exclaimed as she held a basket full of fluorescent colored eggs.

"I bet I got the most!" one little boy cried out, holding out his basket that was overflowing with eggs.

"No I did!"

"I got a bunch more than you!"

The Easter Bunny softly laughed as he shook his head and called out, "now, now no need to fight. Let's count them out, shall we?"

The children happily exclaimed and sat on different patches of grass in the open field, beginning to count how many eggs they managed to find. Bunny smiled as he surveyed them and walked over to a child to help him count. But as he bent down, his eyes grew wide as something caught his attention.

He stood up, looking around as his ears and nose searched for a familiar person. Once he found the right direction, he gulped and smiled down at the children.

"You all keep counting, alright? I've, uh, got more eggs to deliver! Happy Easter!" he called out as he ran off, waving to the children.

Following the scent, Bunny ran past the trees and fields of the park, searching for someone who had gone missing 20 years ago. But even though the group of Guardians were never able to physically spot him, he still apparently did his job throughout the years; frosting and bringing winter to the world, sections at a time. So suddenly noticing him so close by brought worry and fear to Bunny. Although they had their moments, the younger Guardian was still a friend. A friend in need of help.

After stealthily hopping through the town, Bunny finally paused, spotting the boy walking into an alley way; his staff pressed against the cemented ground and coating it with a thin layer of frost as it scraped across it. Bunny took his time catching up to the other as the many other attempts to get near him only resulted in frightening him away. The Guardians didn't even have enough time to see his face, and if they ever tried to follow him, he would attack them and leave without a word.

So as the cold being moved deeper into the alley way, Bunny followed from a distance but made sure to keep him in his view. He soon ended up at a dead end where the alley way stopped at the side of a building, encasing dumpsters and entrances to small apartment buildings. He stood still at the center of the large cubicle, keeping his staff's tip placed firmly on the ground. His gaze was on the wall opposite of Bunny as he slightly swayed back and forth.

This was when Bunny decided to make his move. Slowly, he took three steps toward his friend, making sure to keep his arms halfway up to ensure the other that he meant no harm.

After a long, thick silence, Bunny finally called out to the other, hoping he would not run away again.

"...Jack?"

Bunny's heart raced, feeling immensely nervous yet ready to pounce if he tried to run. Jack's shoulders tensed for a moment but allowed them to slump again, keeping his back towards the other Guardian. Bunny at some point had to wonder if the boy had heard him as he made no real reaction to this. However, the Easter Bunny watched as Jack's foot turned, slowly rotating his body along with it.

Bunny watched as Jack turned completely around and was shocked to find faded white eyes instead of blue looking towards him. The white of his eyes were now a faded purple and the color seemed to bleed out onto his cheeks, flushing them an even darker shade of violet. Small, black veins overlapped these features along with snowflake like patterns that were a brilliant white. His lips and nose were also a deep shade of purple; the tips of his ears and digits fashioning the same hue. But worse than the color of his skin was the look in his eyes. He looked dazed and confused, seeming to have difficulty at simply looking at his old friend.

The two looked at each other for a long moment before Jack swallowed and replied, "B-...Bunny?"

"...Crikey, mate. What's happened to you?" Bunny asked in a soft voice, taking another step closer.

Jack watched him as he moved closer but made no physical gesture of wanting to leave. Instead, he flicked his gaze onto the frozen ground, roughly swallowing again as if he was sick and had difficulty with it. Bunny eventually managed to stand in front of Jack, placing one comforting paw on his shoulder as he turned his head to get a better view of Jack's face.

"Let's go to Santa's Workshop, yeah? Everyone's been worried sick about you. Is that alright?"

Bunny watched as Jack did not agree to this action but did not disagree either. Luckily, as he moved away from Jack, he followed, expressing his answer.

* * *

Santa's Workshop was busy as always, many yeti's working hard to create trillions of toys for children worldwide. But the main hall where the world grid sat stood silently; encasing all the Guardians of the world. Jack was standing away from the group as they talked about how they wanted to approach him. At the moment, he was looking up at the large globe, seeming to inspect every inch of it to its fullest content.

"Now don't be loud or brash with him. He seems to be in a bad state and just talking seems like the best way to get him to talk to us," Bunny whispered to the others. They nodded in understanding as Santa turned and walked up to the smaller Guardian, keeping his distance but being close enough to make himself easily heard.

"Jack. What...happened to you?" Santa asked, watching as Jack once again took a moment to turn to him. Toothiana gasped, covering her mouth as she saw the dark marks on his face.

Jack looked up at the older Guardian and gave him a pained look, parting his lips only to let out a small breath before shutting them once again.

"Jack, you can talk to us," Toothiana softly added, hovering closer to him before landing on her feet. Jack glanced over to her, Toothiana noticing that his eyes weren't focusing on her or even anything at all. However he still did not speak a word.

At this point, everyone came to the same assumption that this was Pitch Black's doing, but they did not understand how that was possible. Pitch had been locked away in his dark hole for years with no connections to the outer world. Did he somehow manage to break out of it? And if so, how did he grab a hold of the youngest Guardian? All these questions came to mind, but no one wanted to pull the words out of Jack as they believed it could throw him off. And they didn't want him running away after finally having him in their hands.

After a long minute of silence, the Sandman took a deep breath and floated over to Jack, looking him directly in the eye. Jack returned the eye contact for a moment before watching the top of his head. Immediately, Sandy formed a figure of Pitch Black himself, causing the other Guardians to lightly flinch. But afterwards, they noticed Jack's expression as his eyes widened for only a moment before tightly shutting and looking away. Once again, no one said anything, the sounds of the workshop being the only sound pervading the air.

"You all," Jack suddenly stated, making everyone's gaze towards him stronger.

"-will probably think I'm stupid for this," he finished, his voice sounding weak and strained.

"No, Jack. Just tell us what happened. We won't be angry at you," Toothiana quickly added, hating the way her friend was looking at the moment.

Jack looked around at the group, watching as each one carefully watched him. Bunny, who hadn't made an attempt to move in close, now took some steps forward, making sure that absolutely everyone in the room was in view to each other. Seeing the way Jack seemed to tense up also caused the other three Guardians to take a step back, giving him enough air to breathe.

"You wouldn't understand unless you heard the things I heard," Jack said, keeping his gaze fixated to the floor.

"I...went down to Pitch. I went down to help him."

"You should have known to avoid that man. Why did you go?" Santa asked, looking just as confused as the others in the room.

"Like I said...you wouldn't understand unless you heard it. All those...screams of pain. All the wails and cries...At first I only noticed it once and tried to ignore it, thinking- believing- that this was punishment for him... But I kept going back to that spot, listening to the way it got worse by the year because, I was hoping that one year it would stop and my worry would fade with it. But they just grew louder and louder and louder-," Jack said as he placed a hand firmly on one side his face, sliding it down afterwards. It seemed to physically pain him to just think about this event.

"Then one year, it stopped. There was literally no sound at all. At first, I thought he finally managed to fight off his own nightmares but...something in the back of my mind told me that-, that something was really wrong."

Jack shut his eyes, leaning back on the machinery behind him as all this talking seemed to tire him out.

"So at some point, I went down to look for him. And I did; I did find him. His lair was completely demolished and his body was limp on the ground. For a moment, I thought he was dead. So I...I walked over to him and he noticed me. He yelled at me to leave over and over again but I told him that I wasn't going to. That's when the nightmares attacked."

Jack looked up, his dead colored eyes looking away into the distance as if reliving the memory.

"All those horses from before were larger and more terrifying and...the look in his eyes was so full of fear," he said, pausing afterwards with a deep sigh.

"I fought them off. I guess me being there somehow made them weaker," Jack added with a shrug.

He stopped his story after this, looking around at all the Guardians who gave him either a disappointed or pitiful gaze. He knew this would happen. It was one of the reasons why he was so bent on avoiding them for so long. However, he continued so they could understand that his choices were not idiotic.

"Once all the nightmares were gone I went up to talk to him. He kept telling me to leave and even tried fighting me, but he was so weak that I didn't even have to the dodge attacks. When I finally saw _his_ eyes, he just looked so..." Jack's eyes wandered the air, trying to find the perfect word to describe his visual.

"_Broken_."

Jack paused again, placing his staff firmly on the floor and leaning on it for support. His grip was tight as he continued to wobble. Whatever was inside of him at the moment was obviously taking its toll on the young man.

"Then what?" Bunny asked, his arms now crossed as he moved in as close as the others. Jack could tell that he would probably beat him up about this more than anyone else.

"I just kept trying to talk to him. For a while he wouldn't listen. I'd leave the place when he'd completely shut me out and come back when he seemed in trouble again. After a while; a _long_ while; he finally came to trust me. After that we just started...talking. He told me about what happened when the nightmares locked him in there, about his past, about his feelings; and I listened."

Jack swallowed again, rubbing the side of his head as he began tilting over. Santa quickly moved in and placed his hand on the boy's arm to stop him from falling, which brought Jack back into reality, making him flinch and hold his staff up in defense. But once he realized what was happening, he forced himself to relax, accepting the support given to him.

After checking that Jack still had the energy to speak, he suddenly asked an odd question.

"Have you noticed? There are more of them," he said as he looked up at the large globe.

Everyone looked up at the globe and Toothiana asked, "children? We have noticed that there have been more believers lately."

Jack nodded.

"Everyone deserves to be believed in."

"What are you saying? You made children believe in that monster?" Bunny quickly asked.

"Yes."

Bunny made no comeback, feeling rather surprised at how he bluntly answered.

"You've heard of Halloween, right? A time where children _want_ to be a little frightened. Perfect spot for the guy to find a line of work," Jack said as he moved his gaze onto Bunny.

Toothiana shook her head with a small sigh.

"But Jack, he's-"

"He was happy. Even if it was just for a moment. We...went to a small haunted house that some parents made and he gave some spooks to the kids. It was weird at first that they would laugh after screaming, but he eventually got used to it and had fun with them...Some even saw him. This went on for a while without problems and I was planning on telling you guys when-,"

Jack cut himself off, sighing and shutting his eyes afterwards.

"When he finally turned against you?" Bunny asked, attempting to finish the sentence.

The youngest Guardian sighed and opened his mouth to speak but winced and gripped onto his hair in pain. His knees began to buckle but Santa made sure to keep him up, placing an arm around him to give him something to lean on. Before anyone could move in closer to assist him, Jack pushed Santa away and stepped away with shivering legs.

"I have to go," he murmured.

"Go? Where are you going? You can barely walk," Toothiana asked as she followed him in the air, Sandy right behind her.

"I have to go," he repeated, his tone changing to a deeper, more serious level. He turned towards a large window on the side of the wall and got ready to fly up, but the others got in his way.

"You can't just leave! This is important! We are trying to help you!" Santa said.

"I don't need your help."

"Look at you, mate! Of course you do!"

"Get out...of my way."

"Bunny is right, Jack! You need help and the first step is keeping you away from P-"

"Get the _fuck_ out of my way!" Jack cried out as a mixture of ice and darkness bursted out of him, causing the Guardians to be pushed by the pressure. The dark marks coming from his eyes seemed to spread at that moment, engulfing his entire face only for a moment.

They all looked at him in shock as he panted heavily, a look of blind anger in his eyes. But after a moment, he began to settle down and gave a look of desperation soon after.

"Please... please, if I don't go-...look I'll come back when I can but not right-" but Jack was forced to cut off again as he gripped onto his head with a low yell.

His whole body shook as he knelt down, almost losing his balance but having enough time to catch himself.

The group looked at one another, not sure what they should do. They had no idea what was happening and Jack seemed quite desperate on leaving. The normal Jack Frost would never make such a loud and foul outburst. After the pain seemed to diminish, Jack looked back up at the group and levitated himself up, watching to see if anyone was planning to stop him. Once he realized that they were allowing his escape, Jack bolted out of the window and through the sky, leaving their line of sight all too quickly.

"Should we follow him?" Toothiana asked as she looked over to Santa. But the older Guardian only sighed through his nose, keeping his gaze on Jack's exit.

* * *

Jack finally made it to Pitch Black's location; a dark, foggy cemetery in the middle of the night. Once he spotted the being, he roughly landed, stumbling on his feet but managing to keep himself up.

He heavily panted as Pitch turned to him and smirked his usual, devilish smirks.

"Jack. I was wondering how long you were planning on keeping me waiting," he said, walking up to the young man.

Jack only panted, catching his breath and looking away. In return, Pitch grabbed the Guardian's chin and held it up, making sure he could look at the other straight in the eye.

"Settle down, _dear friend_, your headache should be gone now that I'm here. How about we have a little _fun_?" Pitch asked, a dark look now looming in his eyes.

* * *

A.N. Yeah, I think I'm done here lol not sure where I plan on going with this...well no I lie I kinda sorta do but I honestly don't plan on writing any more than this. I've just had this scene stuck in my head for like three days now lol and I just wanted to write it out and share.

So uh, if I were to ever keep this going, it would be a slash with Jack and Pitch (Do they have an official shipping name? I think it's Black Ice lol not sure). I kinda ship them but I ship them more as companions rather than like lovers or boyfriends or something. Like, the type of relationship where one comforts and reassures the other more than anything else, and maybe have a kiss here and there, you get me?

Lol but I got inspiration from a picture made by meexart from tumblr. It is the cover photo of this story :)

Oh and what I said in the disclaimer earlier? I really hate the last sentence stated in that movie. "If the moon tells you something, believe it." Lol what? Ok? I'll take note of that? XD I mean, yeah I get the message they were trying to tell but dude, couldn't you have come up with something better? Seriously lol...But yeah there's my rant about that.

Ok let me stop here, I'm writing so much! Again, don't expect my mind to be on this one but if you really enjoyed it and want to read more, please R&R for me! If you have any ideas or anything, just go ahead and shoot :) I like long reviews lol

(And as a side note, if there are any readers from my other top stories, I'm sorry I'm not writing those lol I just couldn't stop thinking about this and really had to get it done. I'll be on those as soon as I can. PROMISE.)


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